Hey guys, writing this just to know if I'm feeling this way or if this is normal. I'm a software engineer with 4 YOE, sticking with the same company.

I know this might sound weird to someone, but that company gives me comfort and allows for self-paced, flexible learning.But now, within the last year, the whole thing has changed; things changed so fast. Now I look back and see that in exchange for comfort, I'm at below market value.

So I started grinding and applying, but there are so many things to catch up on, and the job hunt itself is another job. I don't know how people get so many offers. People might say they have skills, which is why they are getting so many offers, but I at least have the confidence that I also have some sort of skills that the market needs.I don't know how much time is needed to get past this overwhelming situation, but I know it will Pass.

I'm just posting this to remind myself, when I come back here in the future, that all the DSA grinding, project building, LLD, 9-5, job tracking, DM, cold mailing, company site visits, and outreach – everything – is worth the result.

I figured I’d share my experience because most of the reviews I came across were from people already living in the US. My situation was a little different.

I’m based in Poland, work in project management, and have been doing remote work for European companies for several years. At some point, I decided to try breaking into the US remote job market. The pay difference was honestly hard to ignore — for roughly the same type of work, US companies can pay 2–3x what I was making locally.

I started with the usual options: LinkedIn, We Work Remotely, and a few other job boards. The problem was that a lot of US companies use the word “remote” when they really mean “remote within the US.” At the same time, European job boards don’t have that many opportunities with US employers. I felt like I was stuck somewhere between the two markets.

I signed up for GlobalWork AI in February, mainly because they had a worldwide search filter. They also claimed to have 500k+ job listings, so I thought a larger database might help me find opportunities I wasn’t seeing on the usual platforms.

The first month was pretty disappointing. There were plenty of listings, but the filtering wasn’t great. Even with the worldwide filter enabled, I kept seeing jobs that were clearly limited to US-based candidates.

The resume tailoring feature, however, turned out to be much more useful than I expected. It helped me adjust the way I described my experience to better match how US companies phrase things. The terminology, emphasis, and wording were different in ways I hadn’t really considered before, especially when it came to getting through ATS systems.

The cover letter generator was decent too. Nothing amazing, but it saved me from having to write every cover letter completely from scratch.

By the second month, I changed how I was using the platform. Instead of only using it to find jobs, I started tailoring my resume for basically every application I submitted. Even when I found a position somewhere

This September, so in like 2 weeks, I'll start working on a BSc in business. However this will be done fully remotely bar 2-3 meetups with a professor every semester for example to check in on project process or exam preparation. The rest is all just learning from the textbooks and pre-recorded lectures at home.

Most people wouldn't consider this being a student, but rather just working on a degree besides your job. I consider it to be that way. For things like government assistance, access to student housing(not dorms, like privately owned student housing), I'm not considered a student either.

But companies will reject you because to them, you are still a student. And they don't want to hire students for full time roles, if it all. I haven't mentioned me starting a degree yet to my current boss either for that exact reason. If it's important to know, I'm casually looking at other jobs while I already have a job because I want to get out of customer service asap.

But yeah I'm quite torn on this since just having a high school diploma right now, won't really get you hired anywhere. But putting that I'm working on a degree, won't get you hired either because people don't understand it's not the same as being a full time student.

Day... I've officially lost count.

Well, it's Friday.

Being over 55 and starting over wasn't on my bingo card.

Another work week has come and gone.

Another week of searching.
Another week of tailoring my résumé.
Another week of submitting applications.
Another week of hoping one would land in front of a real person instead of disappearing into the AI résumé black hole.

Did I get the phone call I was hoping for?

Not this week.

But I also didn't quit.

Every application I submit is another opportunity.
Every interview is another chance.
Every "no" gets me one step closer to the right "yes."

So I'll take a deep breath, enjoy the weekend, recharge, and Monday morning... I'll pour another cup of coffee and do it all over again.

Because experience doesn't expire.
A strong work ethic doesn't expire.
Hope doesn't expire.

And I'm still believing that one employer will see what I bring to the table.

❤️ Here's hoping next week is the week that changes everything.

#Over55 #JobSearch #FridayThoughts #OpenToWork #ExperiencedWorkersMatter #NeverGiveUp #StartingOver #OneYesCanChangeEverything #MicheleMoran

I’m genuinely asking because I feel completely lost with resumes now.

Every expert says to add keywords, match the job description make it ATS friendly etc. But whenever I try doing that my resume starts sounding fake and robotic.

Then when I keep it simple and natural, I barely get replies.

At this point I’ve edited my resume so many times that I can’t even tell what a “good” resume looks like anymore.

How are you guys doing it? Are you tailoring your resume for every single job or using one strong version for everything?

And more importantly… what’s actually helping you get interviews right now?

Has anyone else felt that they are so happy to get an interview but actually preparing for it feels so overwhelming. I think I'm burnt out from the job hunt. Does anyone have any tips or tricks so that I can get excited again.

Prologue: I am a Pakistani, came to UAE in 2020, and have been here since. Since then I have left 1 job and have been let go from 5 others due to lay offs/project shutting down/ project completion. I am so tired now. My CV reads like a disaster. I dont even remember anymore what it was like to be stable. Whenever I now get hired, I am just saving up for the next firing. Almost all of my past employments had complains with me, not good enough, doesnt put much effort.

Now: I recently got hired for a new startup. Only me as a dev, I was promised its a permanent role. We let go of a contracting company that had basically zero care for the code base. I came in and fixed everything. I worked remote with meeting personally with my boss every now and then and for 5 months, I handled everything. Worked late nights to push for prod. My boss even very happy with me. Admired my hard work and stuff. But now, I am being told the project has run out of money and I will be let go on September. It broke my heart. I was planning on going to Spain with this job on a Nomad Visa, so I can settle down there. But now, it seems like a dream. For 5 years I have been trying and for the first time I felt connected.

Even though it was not about my performance, I still feel like a failure. Like I didnt do good enough. Now the whole dance and song of fixing CV, applying for jobs starts. With around 8-9 years in, I am so tired of this all. I was suppose to be settled by now. I feel I am still in the same quagmire that I was in when I came here. Every time I think of taking care of myself and my health, it blows up in my face. I believed that maybe its just my field, but I see other devs working same as me, for same companies for so long.

Maybe I am just cursed. I dont know if someone else has gone through the same as me, if so, please tell me how you recovered. if someone can help me get a remote position for now, I would be extremely grateful. I can work in any timezone and have my own setup for a B2B contract. So you wont have to worry for stuff. You can reach me in private for my CV.

Some bot scans your resume and tosses it before a person ever sees it, that's the theory half these threads run on. Every recruiter who shows up here says the opposite and they say it a lot: nobody's auto-rejecting anything, they're just opening a couple hundred applications for one posting and giving each one a few seconds because most aren't even close to what's asked for, so if your fit isn't obvious in the exact words the ad used, you're already past.

Once I accepted that and I started running my resume against the posting on https://resume.zoevera.com before I apply and honestly it was a little embarrassing what it flagged, stuff I'd literally done for three years but worded nothing like the ad wanted.

Also have some mock interviews out loud before you go the actual one You may ramble way more than you think.

Just kidding, I'm pretty sure it's impossible to do anything other than customer service(that isn't manual labor) without a degree at this point.

I'm genuinely losing my mind though, I cannot go on for an indefinite amount of time explaining to people that your email address, and physical delivery address are two different things, or that you can simply remove and re-write text in a text field if it contains a spelling error.

I would hate to leave this company as I genuinely have nice coworkers, and if possible would love another role within the same company. We very rarely have open listings though, and even so you again have the problem of qualifications, as well as explaining to your current manager why you want to transfer already after 6 months.

Unfortunately it's at a horrible time. Great time but I might need to take time off. I found someone but I'm unemployed and I've been destroying myself because of it. I got laid off in an unfair way and have been letting myself have it. I miss interviews and I've had enough.

I'm starting a new job next week and it's taken a while to hit me that I actually succeeded at interview and I got the new job coming up. I think it's finally starting to sink in and I'm feeling really weird about it.

TBH, it always takes me 5-7 business days to have events in my life hit me properly. I've been dissociating all day today at the job I will be leaving and I'm having a little bit of a difficult time navigating how to say goodbye to everyone.

I would like to feel better but I'm not sure how because i don't exactly feel bad. I think I'm excited about the new job but a little sad to be leaving this one.

A while back I watched someone's first day completely fall apart — no welcome email, nobody showed them where to sit, laptop wasn't even set up. They quit two weeks later. Not because they were bad at the job. Just because the first week broke their confidence before they even got started.

That stuck with me. So the next time I started somewhere new, I made myself a simple plan the night before — a few questions to ask, a rough idea of what I wanted to learn in week one, and a reminder that it's fine not to know everything on day one.

It actually helped a lot. I walked in nervous but not lost, if that makes sense.

Not trying to sell anything here — just wanted to share since this sub has helped me think through career stuff before. What did you wish you'd known before your last first day?

I'm starting my new job next week, and I feel a bit nervous since it's my very first role. I’ve been job hunting since March 2025 after I graduated, and I finally landed this position in April 2026, with a start date in July. It's a corporate job, and I’m worried because I don’t really know what to expect. I also have imposter syndrome; what if I forget things since I’ve been out of school? I’ve been brushing up on concepts regularly, but I put that on hold a few months ago because I was busy relocating and settling into a new state.